Watch Whitney Houston’s Last Interview Before Death

In her last interview before her shocking death, Whitney Houston expressed her joy at starring in and executive producing a remake of 1976′s ‘Sparkle.’ Houston was calm, collected and content alongside costar Jordin Sparks. There’s a visible warmth between them that’s moving to watch.“We are putting our hearts and souls into this project,” Houston said, her voice husky and soft, “and as it progresses, it’s getting bigger than we thought.”

When asked what made Sparks the ideal candidate for the title character, Houston basically told ‘Entertainment Tonight’ that Sparks is Sparkle. ”The face, the smile, the innocence,” Houston said. “The love for music, the love for singing. Her personality, just being Jordin — transferring that to Sparkle, it was not a hard transition, because that’s Sparkle. Sparkle is willing to learn, as she is now. She was just so sweet and so good.”

Sparks had equally loving words for Houston. “I listened to her and I watched her and she’s telling me different things … I definitely want to take it to heart because she’s been through so much — highs, lows, ups, downs, successes, different things like that,” Sparks said. Sparks also revealed, perhaps unintentionally, that Houston, at least on set, wasn’t very troubled. “She has her head on straight, she has her priorities straight. She’s dealing with all these different things, and it’s really cool to see someone who has all these things balancing all these different things,” Sparks said breathlessly. “I heard her talking to her daughter, and she’s comforting me, t’s just so amazing to sit here and she’s still doing it! She’s still doing it.”

Houston passed away tragically on Feb. 11, with sources saying she likely drowned in her Beverly Hilton bathtub following a sedative mixture of Xanax and alcohol. ‘Sparkle’ will hit theaters as scheduled on Aug. 17.